Archive for April, 2013

The elections are over, now time to sit back and look at some of the articles printed during that time. I am a subscriber of the DesPlaines Valley News, at least I am until my subscription comes due, and then I will not be a subscriber, and I am reading an article by Joe B Egas regarding the streets of Justice.

Mr. Joe B Egas, a resident in the Village of Justice for maybe 10 years (I have lived here for 30) , Joe B Egas who just last year got a new street in front of his home, Joe B Egas, who states he was a former supporter of the VVP/Coalition Parties, Joe B Egas, who sits back in his chair and waits for a election to speak up about streets in the Village.

The streets in this village are a problem all the time, not just at election time. He states Trustee Small proposed a special service area, that it drew criticism from residents, how would he know, he has not attended one village board meeting or village committee meeting when that was discussed. Actually, once Trustee Small realized, through research, how much it was going to costs the residents, she stated herself that it was not a good idea, BUT, at least she tried to do something, that is more than some of the politicians in this village. Maybe Mr Egas thought if Mr. Kozlowski was elected new streets would appear magically, because Mr. Kozlowski promised they would, he also promised he would move the park and who know what else he promised, but now he doesn’t have to worry about not fulfilling those promises, because he was defeated in the election.

Justice has a problem with the streets, that is not a secret, but so do almost every other town in Illinois. Go to Western Springs, LaGrange, Westchester, those towns are much more affluent than Justice, they pay twice as much in real estate taxes and their streets are just as bad, if not in some cases worse than ours.

Mr. Egas if you want something done, then contact your representatives and senators and ask them why they are not doing anything for the Village of Justice, that they want our support during election time, but do nothing for us otherwise. Come to Village Meetings, voice your opinion to the faces of the people you condemn, and maybe work with them to come to a solution to the problem. Don’t put it in the paper and expect people to rise up and do something because Joe B Egas wants them to.

I am glad you decided to support the Village Improvement Party, because look, they were not elected, they can’t keep their promises, and you won’t be disappointed, so you can’t condemn them for not doing anything.

I am proud to be a member of the Village Voice Committee, I am proud of what the members of the Village Voice who were elected to office 2 years ago have done, and I know I will be proud of what they are going to do. The streets will be fixed, we just have to wait for the State of Illinois to get off their hands and actually do something. If they don’t get fixed, when it comes to electing Mr. Lipinski, Mr Landek & anyone else that is downstate, I will be voting for the other party.

And as far as the DesPlaines Valley News, they will no longer have me as a subscriber, considering Mr. Landek and his partners now own them and the paper has become a political propaganda news letter. Right now if you look at the area it serves it doesn’t even say Justice anymore, so if they don’t want to serve Justice, I don’t want their paper.

Thank you, to all Village of Justice residents, who voted in the Municipal Elections for President/Mayor, Village Clerk, and 3 Trustees. Your vote was very important because:

it confirmed that the continuing strategy of collaboration between residents and elected officials will continue;

that the road reconstruction plan started last year will continue without any loss of forward progress;

that our positive operating budget, finally achieved this year, will continue because a balanced budget is paramount for your elected officials; and

that our economic development plans will continue to grow, as we continue to work in tandem with the Justice Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to promote Justice businesses, provide them opportunities to grow their business, and attract additional businesses to Justice. (In the last 2 years, 93 new business licenses were approved by the VOJ Board of Trustees.)

Thank you for your support to all your elected officials. My focus will be to serve the entire Village of Justice, what’s best for the whole and not select factions.

The Village Voice Committee would like to thank everyone that came out and voted on April 9th. Thank you for choosing to elect our candidates Edward C Rusch and Hank Oszakiewski. Together we can all participate to make our local government stronger and continue the progress that has been achieved these last two years.

Election Day, for the Justice resident, means several newsletters, robo calls, knocks on your door, and a community of political yards signs. However, even with this media blitz by political parties, we often forget what is truly at stake.

Simply stated, “Who will lead our community forward.” This question deserves tremendous consideration. Should we stay on the path that has been set or take the path of uncertainty?

A path of uncertainly tends to have numerous pit falls. Among those pitfalls are indecision, trial and error, lack of direction, and often confusion. On the other hand if we elect to stay on the path that continues to allow us an assured comfort in reaching our destination we get a consoling feeling.

On Tuesday the 9th you, as a voter, can select that path. With the accomplishments of the Coalition Party of Justice over that last two years I believe the path to be chosen is the one that the Coalition Party has proven to be quite successful.

Providing residents with significant saving on their electric bills, finishing 2012 with a surplus in the village budget, repairing and replacing streets as grants and village funds are available, listening not lecturing to residents, being reachable elected officials, and honest individuals, are only a few of their stops on the path to community success.

The proven path that the Coalition Party of Justice has followed in the last two years has demonstrated their talent to be an effective group and take our community to the next level.

On Tuesday April 9th I encourage you to vote for the Coalition Party candidates, allowing our community to maintain a path of Progress, Service, and Balance.

When election season is in full swing we get used to seeing all the newsletters hung upon our doorknobs, post cards in our mail boxes and adverts across the television. At the bottom, or during the voice over, depending on the media it will note “Paid for by…” this is a legal requirement so that the voter can be informed in a fair and true way where the ad originates from and who is behind it.

In recent years with the advent of Super PAC’s, also known as big political action committees, it seems that we’re getting back into murky waters that are allowing voters to receive clear as mud information behind the sponsor of campaign materials. Political action committees are used to sway voters for or against a candidate but many times it’s hard to tell who is involved in those PACS. It’s sort of like being in the land of Oz -pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! PAC donations represented over 21 million dollars in donations in the state of Illinois during the 2011-2012 time period.

Recently in our village, postcards are being mailed to voters homes. On the front of one was a picture reminiscent of dogs playing poker, and on the back was a sales pitch for VIP candidate for Mayor John Koslowski, a self styled servant of the people. After scanning the typical political sales pitch, if you pay very close attention, in the fine print you’ll notice that this ad is paid for by the Alliance of Illinois TaxPayers.

Who are they?

The AOFITP was created in October of 2012, with the purpose “to support candidates for local, county and state elected office” and according to the PAC’s web site, lists an officer as Shannon Schilaci and seems to be headquartered in Lyons, Illinois, although a resident reportedly went out to the address and reported back, no one at that address knew what the organization was. There is a list of interesting high dollar amount donors, but, most interestingly is the former Justice village attorney of the Del Galdo Law Group- a group with a long standing affiliation to Berwyn and Cicero, who also happened to be the preferred village attorney when Mr. Koslowski and his Peoples Voice Party formerly held control of the Justice Village Board and is no longer employed by the Village of Justice. Further, it’s been noted that Ms. Schilaci has had dealings with Del Galdo law firm directing, acting as a paralegal for the firm.

What’s concerning, then puzzling, is that an average citizen may not be able to dig all of this information up and understand any implication on where this funding is coming from and what it can mean for the village if Mr. Koslowski and company were to be elected into office. You have to ask yourself, why would an outside group from Berwyn and Cicero care about Justice mayoral elections?

It’s important to know who is standing behind candidates during election season- it’s also right to be able to fairly see where a campaign is getting its funding and support from. Feel free to review filings on the Illinois State Board of Elections website, its your right to be informed.